March 4
PAKISTAN:
Abolition of death penalty for drug offences urged
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has called for the abolition
of death penalty for drug-related offences.
Releasing the INCB's annual report for 2014, its president said on Tuesday:
"While the determination of specific sanctions applicable to drug-related
offences remain the prerogative of states", the board again "encourages those
states which retain and continue to impose death penalty for drug-related
offences to consider abolishing the death penalty for such offences."
It notes that drug control measures do not exist in a vacuum and that, in their
implementation of drug control conventions, states must also comply with their
obligations under other treaties, including the international human rights
obligations.
The report says: Around 5.5 billion people still have limited or no access to
medicines containing narcotic drugs such as codeine or morphine, leaving 75 %
of the world population without access to proper pain relief treatment.
Underlining this discrepancy, the report notes that around 92pc of morphine
used worldwide is consumed by only 17pc of the population, primarily living in
the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Addressing the discrepancy in the availability of narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes is one of the
obligations for governments while complying with the international drug control
conventions.
To achieve a balanced and integrated approach to the drug problem, governments
also should ensure that demand reduction is one of the first priorities of
their drug control policies, while they should put greater emphasis on and
provide support and appropriate resources to prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation, the report says.
It points out that natural disasters and armed conflicts around the world can
further limit access to essential medicines, and therefore reminds states that
in cases of emergency medical care, simplified control measures can be applied.
States should also be aware, the report says, that under international
humanitarian law, parties to armed conflicts have to allow access to medical
care, including access to essential medicine, for the civilian population in
territories under their control.
The report notes that there has been an increase of 11pc in the number of new
psychoactive substances (NPS) with 388 unique substances identified as of 2014,
compared to 348 the previous year. The extent of use of NPS worldwide
illustrates the dynamic nature of the drug problem.
The INCB report also notes an increase of around 66pc in the global consumption
of methylphenidate, a stimulant primarily used in the treatment of Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This may be attributable to various
factors, including: the increasing number of ADHD patients; a widening of the
age group of the population likely to receive the treatment and lack of
adequate prescription guidelines added to strong and influential marketing
practices.
The South Asia region, owing to its location between the 'Golden Crescent'
(Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the 'Golden Triangle' (Lao, Myanmar and
Thailand) continued to be particularly vulnerable to the trafficking of opiates
and heroin. In addition, widespread trafficking of cannabis, synthetic drugs
and new psychotropic substances persisted in 2013.
The report says maritime routes that depart from ports in Iran and Pakistan are
increasingly being utilised to smuggle Afghan heroin, as the use of physical
barriers and monitoring posts along the eastern land border of Iran has made
overland trafficking increasingly difficult.
Seizures of heroin at seaports by the Pakistani authorities more than doubled
over the previous year, approaching 1.2 tons. The Anti-Narcotics Force also
reported seizures of cocaine in 2013 and provided intelligence that assisted in
effecting significant seizures of cocaine abroad, it says.
The annual prevalence of opiate abuse among Pakistanis aged 15-64 years has
grown from 0.7pc in 2006 to 1pc in 2013, concurrent with increases in
trafficking of opiates via Pakistan.
(source: Dawn)
BANGLADESH:
Kamaruzzaman review petition Thursday
The counsels of condemned war criminal Mohammad Kamaruzzaman have said they
would file the review petition, challenging the Jamaat leader's death penalty,
on Thursday. Tajul Islam, spokesman of the defence lawyers, said they would
file the review petition on Thursday, the last day for filing the petition.
Earlier in the day, they met the war criminal at the Dhaka Central Jail.
A 5-member lawyer team entered the central jail around 10:30am, said Forman
Ali, senior jail superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail. When asked about the
topic of their meeting, the police official said: "They are discussing legal
issues."
Earlier on February 28, a total of 8 members, including Kamaruzzaman's wife
Nurunnahar, visited him at jail. In talking to reporters after the 30-minute
meeting, Mohammad Shishir Manir, counsel for the death-row convict, said the
family members went to see Kamaruzzaman as part of a regular visit.
"We'll appeal to the higher court, and hope to get justice," the counsel added.
On January 29, the last meeting took place. On February 19, prison authorities
read out the death warrant to Kamaruzzaman immediately after International
Crimes Tribunal-2 issued it. On February 18, the Supreme Court released the
full text of the verdict against the war criminal.
The review petition challenging his death penalty has to be filed in 15 days
from the day the death warrant was read out to the convict. On November 3,
2014, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal verdict
that had awarded death sentence to the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary
general for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in
1971.
M Kamaruzzaman was shifted to Dhaka Central Jail from Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur
after the SC upheld his death penalty.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
******************
Women, Children Repression Prevention Act ---- SC to deliver verdict on
provision of death penalty any day
The Supreme Court will deliver a verdict any day on a government appeal
challenging a High Court judgment that scrapped a provision of death sentence
under the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Special) Act 1995.
According to Section 6 (2), a person will be given death sentence if found
guilty of killing any woman or child after rape.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK
Sinha, kept the appeal waiting for a verdict, as the apex court has earlier
concluded its hearing.
The government filed the appeal in 2010 following an HC judgment which, on
March 2, 2010, declared the section illegal and unconstitutional, saying that
whatever the nature of a crime is, death penalty cannot be the only punishment
for criminals as per the constitution.
The HC order came following a writ petition challenging legality of the act
which was filed jointly by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, a rights
organisation, and Sukur Ali of Manikganj, who was given death sentence on July
12, 2001, in a rape and murder case.
The HC in 2010 also stayed the execution of Sukur's death sentence who is now
in Dhaka jail.
Earlier, Sukur filed an appeal with the HC against the death sentence but the
HC on February 25, 2004 upheld the judgment while on February 23, 2005, the
Appellate Division also upheld the HC verdict.
(source: The Daily Star)
AUSTRALIA:
Australian Parliamentarians against the death penalty
The co-chairs of the Australian Parliamentarians against the Death Penalty
group, The Hon. Philip Ruddock MP and Mr. Chris Hayes MP have received advice
that the President of the Senate, the Hon. Stephen Parry and the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop MP have formally approved the
reforming of the group for the 44th Parliament.
Recent events involving two Australians on death row in Indonesia has put the
issue of the death penalty at the front of mind for many Australians. The
re-forming of this group is in response to a number of politicians who feel
Australia has a role to play in ending the death penalty internationally.
"I have fought against the death penalty, as a matter of principle, for the
entirety of my Parliamentary career.
"This is still something I feel passionately about and will continue to raise
among colleagues at home and abroad. Australia must take a firm stance against
this barbaric practice", Mr. Ruddock said.
Mr. Hayes holds equally strong views against capital punishment.
"I oppose the death penalty wherever it occurs. To me, capital punishment is
the most cruel and inhuman response to crime. It represents a violation of the
most basic of all human rights; and that is life itself.
"My opposition to capital punishment, including advocacy for its abolition, is
universal and not only when it involves Australians???, Mr. Hayes said.
So far 36 Federal Parliamentarians from across the Parliament have sought
membership of this group.
The group will be meeting with legal experts, foreign dignitaries, foreign
parliamentarians and human rights groups to discuss the role Australia can play
in advocating against the death penalty.
THE HON PHILIP RUDDOCK MP, MEMBER FOR BEROWRA
MR CHRIS HAYES MP, MEMBER FOR FOWLER
(source: reversepr.com.au)
GAMBIA:
Rights Group Demands Action On Gambia's Rights Abuses
Amnesty International has called on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), its
members and observer states to establish an investigation into human rights
violations by the Gambian regime of President Yahya Jammeh.
In a statement issued ahead of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council
in Geneva where a report by the Special Rapporteurs on torture and other cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment in the Gambia will be discussed, the rights
group said it has over the years documented numerous cases of intimidation,
arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance and unlawful
killings of journalists, human rights defenders and political activists in
Gambia.
Torture
The London-based organisation said although the Jammeh regime had in November
2014 denied the Rapporteurs access to the Security Wing of Mile 2 prison, where
death row prisoners and others sentenced to long prison terms are held, their
preliminary findings have revealed that torture is prevalent in the small West
African country.
It added that their reports on the deteriorating human rights situation
including torture and other ill-treatment of people in the Gambia are similar
to the findings of the Rapporteurs.
It said the Rapporteurs have noted in their report that "the nature of the
torture is brutal and includes very severe beatings with hard objects or
electrical wires; electrocution, asphyxiation by placing a plastic bag over the
head and filling it with water and burning with hot liquid. These methods of
torture generally occurred over a period of days or even weeks."
Prison Conditions
The rights group added that the Rapporteurs have also expressed concerns about
prison conditions in the Gambia and the lack of an effective complaints
mechanism to address allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.
Amnesty International said it has received information of recent arrests and
torture of a homophobic nature and it has recorded that at least eight people,
including 3 women and a 17-year-old boy, were arrested by the Gambia's National
Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Presidential Guards in November 2014 and
threatened with torture because of their presumed sexual orientation.
"All those arrested were detained under investigation for "homosexuality" and
were subjected to ill-treatment, such as beating, sensory deprivation and the
threat of rape to force them to confess their "crimes", it added.
"Amnesty International received information that a further 6 individuals were
reportedly arrested in November and December 2014 on the same grounds; 3 of the
men arrested are currently facing trial in the High Court of Banjul."
The rights group added that it has also received information that Gambian law
enforcement agencies including the NIA and Presidential Guard have arrested at
least 30 persons, including a 16-year-old boy, since the beginning of January
after a failed alleged coup attempt in the capital Banjul on 30 December 2014.
It said the detainees are being held incommunicado and without charge and
security forces have threatened to arrest anyone demanding the release or
whereabouts of those arbitrarily detained.
"Amnesty International is concerned about the use of arbitrary detention and
torture and other ill-treatment against human rights defenders or opponents of
the regime," the right group said.
"It is also concerned about restrictions to the right to freedom of expression,
in particular through successive legislation passed in recent years
unnecessarily restricting this right and imposing increased punishments."
It added that recent amendments to the Criminal Code in May 2013, which include
the charge of providing "false information to a public servant" is broad and
subject to abuse by law enforcement authorities, in particular the NIA. It
added that the new law is also likely to result in the detention and
interrogation of persons, in particular, journalists and human rights defenders
and others who express dissent, all of whom are at risk of torture or
ill-treatment during interrogation.
Amnesty International added: "The shrinking space allowed for human rights
activism and any form of political dissent is a major obstacle to exposing,
preventing and addressing the use of torture and other ill-treatment in
Gambia."
Death Penalty
The rights group said although the Gambia has put in place a conditional
moratorium on the death penalty since the execution of 9 death row inmates in
August 2012, prisoners continue to be exposed to "death row phenomenon", which
is "a combination of circumstances that produce severe mental trauma and
physical deterioration in prisoners under sentence of death".
It added that the executions in 2012, which took place after a 27-year-long
moratorium, were carried out without informing the prisoners, their lawyers or
families in advance, and the authorities did not return the bodies of the
executed to their families for burial.
The right group called on the Jammeh regime to desist from reprisals and
intimidation against persons cooperating with the UN in the field of human
rights, improve the conditions of detention in all places of detention and
ensure that prisoners and detainees have access to medical care, adequate and
appropriate food, hygiene and exercise.
It also called on the regime to investigate all allegations of torture or other
ill-treatment and hold to account the individuals responsible, establish an
independent mechanism that promptly and effectively investigates all
allegations of torture or ill-treatment, establish a permanent moratorium on
executions, with a view to abolition, commute all death sentences, and ensure
that prisoners on death row enjoy fully their right to seek clemency. It
further called on the regime to immediately end the policy of continued
harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and torture of people due to their
perceived sexual orientation and of human rights defenders, journalists,
political activists, and their families, repeal legislation that restricts
freedom of expression inconsistently with human rights standards and ratify
human rights treaties, including the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol,
the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance, and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
(source: Jollof News)
SOUTHEAST ASIA:
The death penalty in SE Asia: is there a trend towards abolition?
In 2013, scholars David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring characterised Asia
as the "next frontier" in the global campaign to abolish the death penalty.
While hard data on death penalty practices is notoriously difficult to find,
there are indications of a Southeast Asian trend towards abolition. The death
penalty was abandoned in the Philippines in 2006, East Timor in 1999 and
Cambodia in 1989. The last known executions in Laos and Myanmar were in 1989.
Thailand has a high rate of clemency, which amounts to "de facto" abolition -
its last reported execution was in 2009.
Bucking this alleged trend, Malaysia executed 2 people in 2013 and an average
of 1 person per year between 2007 and 2011.
Indonesia resumed executions in 2013, ending a practical moratorium that began
in 2008. Before that it executed between 1 and 10 people annually. So far
Indonesia has executed 6 people in 2015 and 2 Australians, Andrew Chan and
Myuran Sukumaran, are being transferred on Wednesday to a prison island where
they will be executed.
Vietnam allegedly executes about 100 people a year. Singapore hanged 2 people
in 2014, none between 2010 and 2013, and at least 1 each year from 2007 to
2009.
Generalisations about the death penalty in Southeast Asia suggest abolitionist
sentiments are increasing, yet practices vary substantially. To better
understand the trends we must consider the context and political priorities of
states that retain the death penalty. This is not to deny the significance of
the death penalty reform movement, but to say that this activism must be
understood in a local context.
The death penalty in Vietnam
In 2005, Vietnam reduced the offences to which the death penalty applies from
44 to 22. These reforms reportedly arose from an ambition to advance human
rights.
The debate in Vietnam about changing sentencing principles is ongoing. Proposed
changes include an exemption from the death penalty for people aged over 70; a
qualification that the death penalty only apply in "particularly serious
cases"; and the possibility of a suspended death penalty provision.
This last approach involves the court ordering the death penalty, but
suspending its implementation pending proof of rehabilitation over a period of
years.
Vietnam also briefly suspended executions by firing squad. This followed a
government decision in late 2011 that execution should be more humane and be
done by lethal injection.
Subsequently, the European Union imposed a ban on the export of a constituent
chemical, Propofol, which resulted in a radical increase in the number of
prisoners on death row and an impasse about whether to reinstate death by
firing squad. In August 2013, executions by lethal injection began after
ingredients were developed locally.
In effect, Vietnam is reformist and reductionist - but it is premature to
classify it as abolitionist.
The death penalty in Singapore
Arguably, Singapore echoes a reductionist, rather than an abolitionist, trend.
Activists are seeking the abolition of the death penalty locally. In 2013
Singapore amended the Misuse of Drugs Act to remove the mandatory death penalty
in drug cases. The act now allows for a life sentence and caning when an
accused demonstrates that they were only a courier and that they provided
"substantial assistance" to the authorities. The latter must be evidenced by a
certificate from the Public Prosecutor.
Government figures claimed that the reform targeted increased co-operation with
police. It did not reflect an abolitionist agenda. Others argue that global
condemnation of the Singaporean government in 2005, when it executed young
Australian drug mule Van Tuong Nguyen, contributed to the removal of the
mandatory death penalty for some drug offences.
The next frontier?
If Asia is indeed the "next frontier", what is the status of abolitionism today
in Vietnam and Singapore? There are now live discussions about abolition
throughout these countries, particularly among lawyers, and this is nurtured
through pragmatic support. This is balanced by those advocating for its
retention, particularly where drugs, terrorism or treason are involved.
However, when jurisdictions want to execute foreign citizens they must navigate
particular perils. This is especially true when global media are galvanised
against them.
Vietnamese practice suggests there has been differential treatment for some
foreign nationals, made possible through the clemency process. Singapore
rejects this approach, yet recent legal changes in Singapore offer "substantial
assistance" as a means to avoid execution. Could this deliver the possibility
of (foreigners) escaping the death penalty?
Current practices suggest Vietnam and Singapore demonstrate practical ways to
reduce the incidence of the death penalty, particularly where foreigners are
involved, rather than abolitionist tendencies. It is important to distinguish
social and global media focus on the death penalty, which can either assist or
hinder abolitionism, from policy changes.
At this stage, the death penalty remains in Singapore and Vietnam with little
prospect of abolition. What we have seen are more humane approaches to
execution (Vietnam) and reductionist reforms (both states). Over time, the
prospect of foreign nationals escaping the death penalty seems likely to
increase - although current experience in Indonesia exemplifies the danger of
assuming this.
(source: The Conversation)
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